Guilderland board courts third justice idea

Redlich said the cost of the salary for a new judge, likely to be set near $42,000 per year is deceiving, and he estimates the actual cost will be closer to $100,000 after court clerks are hired and benefits are included.

Redlich also said he has reservations about the schedules of the police officers, and said some of them work nights and could be asked to appear in the daytime session.

He said that generating revenue faster from an additional justice does not equate generating more revenue.

Redlich said resolving more cases by mail and having pretrial conferences with the town prosecutor without a judge or officer present could save time and money.

Another measure, he said, would be to spread out the time the defendants show up for court, so that everyone is not there at once. When the 200 or so defendants come all at once, at 5:30 p.m., Redlich said, time gets wasted.

Redlich also suggested asking the police officers not to write tickets for offenses that will likely be thrown out by the prosecutor of judge. He said writing a ticket for DWAI for a BAC under 0.05 percent is a waste of time, since those charges will be thrown out anyway.

Assemblyman Jack McEneny, D-Albany, who represents the town of Guilderland, said he would be willing to sponsor a bill in the state legislature to add a justice if the town decides on that route. A bill passed by both the Assembly and Senate, and signed by Gov. David Paterson, would be needed for the measure to be enacted.

"Crossgates adds an enormous amount to the public protection responsibilities," McEneny said.

McEneny added that the judge, if hired, would serve a year and then be subject to election the following fall.

Sen. Neil D. Breslin, D-Delmar, echoed McEneny, stating he would gladly sponsor a bill in the Senate if the town desired.